Jill Goode has returned to the Nantucket Film Festival as its executive director.

Elektra Gray has been promoted to director of consumer PR for the IFC Companies. She had been manager of consumer PR for IFC.

Rebecca Gilson has been named director of marketing for CineArts, a division of Century Theatres. She had worked as VP of creative and marketing for iXL.

Joel Bachar is now working in publicity at the Roxie Cinema and RoxieReleasing in San Francisco. He also is continuing “Independent Exposure,”his monthly microcinema screening series.

CHATTER

THE PARTY CIRCUIT: It’s a good thing the Christmas party season iswinding down, because our liver needs a rest and it’s probably not a goodidea to eat hor d’ourves for dinner EVERY night. Since our last report,there has been a flurry of events. Last Thursday’s Content Film party isalready near-legendary — there was an A-list crowd, much dancing (andfalling), fancy F&B hot dogs, an overflooded restroom, and a even a littleattempted making out in the corners. Alec Baldwin and Caroline Rhea made asurprise late-night appearance.

On Monday night, “Roger Dodger” producer Anne Chaisson held a morerespectable soiree to launch the new production company, Dirty Rice, whichshe started with Scott Moody. Among the guests at Moody’s fabulousdowntown loft were “Dodger” writer/director Dylan Kidd, who toasted hisNew York Film Critics prize for best first film, announced earlier inthe day.

On Tuesday, the party scene was especially hopping. Our first stop was theIFP’s shindig at their offices, where we drank rum punch (there was anisland theme) and milled with a packed house. Thankfully nobody was hurt bythe falling coat rack! Next up was a party for Black Book magazine andDiesel, where we ran into the crew from Cinetic Media. Micah Green, when hewasn’t on his cell phone, gave us the scoop on Cinetic’s many Sundanceprojects. Cinetic’s Erin Heidenreich and Matt Littin were also making thescene. Third stop was the “Nicholas Nickleby” party, where we spottedMichael Stipe, chatted with Matt Dillon, wanted to pinch Jamie Bell’scheeks, and ate some watercress sandwiches and something odd stuffed into apuffed pastry. In that crowd: Nathan Lane, Bingham Ray, John CameronMitchell, actress Heather Matarazzo (looking very non-Weiner Dog),screenwriter Mike Jones, Hives-attired Mark Rabinowitz, Magnolia’s RyanWerner, and Cowboy’s John Vanco. Jack Turner from UA then took hisafter-party crew to the Red Bench in Soho. Wednesday night was the First RunFeatures party down at Greek haven Gus’ Place in the West Village, but —shocking! — BUZZ was hanging out with some non-film pals that night.Thursday night promises to be an interesting evening with the IFC’s bash atSplashlight Studios. Please, God, we hope we won’t have to report about anoutbreak of Greek dancing.

DUDE, WHERE’S MY VIDEO?: Producer’s rep extraordinaire Jeff “the Dude”Dowd is getting in front of the camera a bit. He stars in the music video“Jakey Moves” by a new London rock band called Serial P.O.P. “Scratch”director Doug Pray directed and edited the video, and one source tells usthe budget included “4 cases of Coors, 3 liters of vodka, a case of RedBull, a porn star, and a lot of patience on the part of the director.” Youcan view the entire video, including scenes of the Dude blowing kisses atthe camera and thrashing around with a hot blonde, at serialpop.com.

SHOW ZONE: Location scouts are taking the spotlight themselves for achange. A group of location scouts and managers have organized a photographyexhibition, “In the Zone,” which will open on January 25 at the PacificDesign Center in West Hollywood. A jury selected 75 images for the show,from the 250 images of L.A. that were submitted. The photos were takenby location execs while scouting in the area. The show’s title refers tothe 30-mile zone that producers find optimum for shooting in L.A. Theexhibit runs through April 18; for details visit locationaccess.com.

JUDGE CALEB: Famed cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, known recently asthe papa of it girl Zooey, will judge the 2002 Kodak Filmschool Competitionfor students and recent grads in the regions of Asia, Japan, and LatinAmerica. Winners will be announced in January; Deschanel says he’s “lookingfor visuals that carry the story, and why and how the images serve themovie.” Regional winners will have their films shown at the 2003 CannesInternational Film Festival’s American Pavilion.

QUOTABLE

“It’s a bloodbath out there. The academy season is just brutal.”Focus Features’ James Schamus tells the New York Times about pre-Oscarfrenzy.

COMING SOON

Next week in indieWIRE, we’ll take Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday offto watch whatever shiny new DVDs Santa brings us. In Monday’s issue, lookfor the first part of our roundtable discussion with Bob Berney, EamonnBowles, and Ted Hope. On Friday, the indieWIRE staff and our contributorsoffer our picks for best films of 2002. BUZZ will take the week off andreturn the first week of 2003.